


Growing Up is Hard, Baby

by Shannon



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-17
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-16 14:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11831040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shannon/pseuds/Shannon
Summary: Takes place immediately after a Year in the Life, after those infamous words. Rory has to figure out her life now. No more floating from place to place, job to job, hoping for a break. She needs to find a stable job, one that will keep her in or near Star's Hollow and her mother. She has an idea but can she make it work? What about Logan? How much a part of their baby's life does he want to be? Does she love him? Is he right for her, or is someone else a better choice? It's yet another part of her life she needs to start taking more seriously.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> At this time, posting the first chapter and having three written I don't know for sure where this is heading as far as a pairing go. One minute I lead toward Rory/Logan and another I lean toward Rory/Jess, others I think she doesn't need a man. So Expect a triangle at the very least, While Rory and I figure out what she really wants. 
> 
> (I'm a fan of both Logan and Jess, so this could truly go either way. I'm just letting the story lead me to that decision.)

Stupid. Careless. Thoughtless. Irresponsible. Simpleminded. Negligent. Rory stared at the pregnancy test in her hand. Every word she could think of for stupid and careless running through her head and with her vocabulary that could take a while. But in the end it all came down to one word. Positive. The test was positive. She was pregnant. Rory Gilmore was going to have a baby. She was living in her mother’s house and had no job, no way to support herself and she was going to have a baby because she let herself get careless one night. 

 

The Life and Death Brigade — or at least that small part of it that stuck with her all these years — had always brought out the worst, and best, in her. She had always taken life a little too seriously, she knew that, and Colin, Finn, Robert, and Logan had a unique ability to make her let go and forget to overthink everything. To just act, to have fun. It resulted in some wonderful moments in her life, moments she’d never forget. Sometimes she needed to just act, to not make a pro/con list, not analyze the situation, just do what felt good and right in the moment. She’d just acted without thinking in New Hampshire though, and that’s why she was now staring at a positive pregnancy test. She and Logan had both been drunk and hadn’t had condoms and decided it was okay to take the risk that her birth control pill would be enough, even though they both knew the pill is among the least effective methods for preventing pregnancy, it was meant more for hormonal problems, which was why she was on it. Now she was paying the price for that carelessness. 

 

Logan. What was she going to tell him? Was she going to tell him? He was getting married in a few weeks. Was it even right to drop this bomb on him this close to his wedding day? Would he still marry Odette? Did she want him to cancel his wedding? Did Rory want him to marry her? Getting married because of a pregnancy wasn’t a good way to start a life together. If he married Odette would he want to be part of the baby’s life? Would he help support it? Would he just leave her to care for the baby alone? She was pretty sure she knew where Mitchum Huntzberger would stand on the issue. Pay her off. Or maybe just outright deny the baby since he knew she wasn’t the type to sue him or raise a fuss. But what about Logan? Rory needed her mother.

 

Rory hated dumping this on Lorelei today, the morning after she finally married Luke. The day Emily, her grandmother, was coming to town for the big wedding. She didn’t want to ruin her mother’s perfect day but not telling her wasn’t an option, was it? She could wait, but past experience said that withholding information from her mother for even a short time would just lead to it all spinning out of control. She needed to tell her. She’d know what to do. She was meeting her for breakfast soon, if she told her now it’d be hours before grandma arrived and before the festival and wedding and things would be okay by then. She needed to get ready. 

 

****

“Mom.” 

 

“Yeah?” 

 

“I’m pregnant,” Rory said quietly but quickly. Not sure what to expect from her mother at this point. She thought she’d be happy about the book and she’d freaked out so who knew what her reaction to this would be. And once again her reaction shocked her. Lorelei leaned over and hugged her tightly. 

 

“You’re pregnant?” Lorelei asked, leaning away from her daughter when she found words to speak again. Trying desperately to keep her voice calm and supportive. To not yell at her. She couldn’t believe Rory had let this happen, not her, she was always so damn careful about everything. But she also knew what it was like to be pregnant, scared, and alone, and have a mother who was anything but loving and supportive and she wouldn’t do that to Rory. “Is there another boyfriend so boring we just can’t remember meeting him?” 

 

Leave it to her mother to make her smile when she felt like her world was falling apart. “Logan,” Rory said, shaking her head. “Not seeing him again. He came to town when I was fighting with you over the book, with Colin and Finn and long story short, they wanted to cheer me up and they succeeded. But Logan and I were drunk and stupid and now — Oh God, what am I going to do?”

 

“Have you told Logan?” Lorelei asked. She was never overly fond of him but he deserved to know if he had a child on the way, regardless of what choices Rory made on raising her child the father had a right to know he had a child. “That should be your first step.”

 

“Is it though? He’s getting married in less than a month,” Rory pointed out, “Should I tell him and screw up his life too? 

 

“He screwed up as much as you did that night,” Lorelei argued, “and he has the right to know. You can choose to raise this child alone. Tell him you don’t want him to be part of its life if that’s what you want. But you need to tell him he has a child on the way.” 

 

“Should I tell him to get married and I’ll raise the baby alone? Or make him help support it? I know I don’t want to get married. Not now. Not just because I’m pregnant. But I don’t know what I want from him.”

 

“I don’t know what you should do,” Lorelei said honestly, “that’s between you and Logan. I do agree with you about marriage. Don’t get married just because of the baby. Start by telling him and see how he reacts. His reaction may give you an answer to a lot of your questions. If he doesn’t want to be involved you can’t force him so that would answer that question. If he wants to be involved, but wants to stay in London then you likely have years of him being involved monetarily only. So start by talking to him and seeing where that takes you.”

 

“Okay,” Rory said. What her mother said made sense. Worrying about what to do about Logan until she talked to Logan was pointless. “I’ll call him tomorrow. Can we keep this quiet until I have a chance to talk to him? We can tell Luke, but no one else, okay?” 

 

“Obviously,” Lorelei said, smiling. “The town golden girl having a baby isn’t going to overshadow my wedding.” 

 

****

 

Logan took a deep, steadying breath, “Pregnant? Any chance you’re pranking me? Colin and Finn convinced you that this would be an awesome bachelor party game or something?” 

 

“Have I ever let Colin or Finn convince me that anything at all was a good idea?” Rory asked, “No, it’s not a prank. I’m pregnant. But I was serious about not expecting anything from you as well, Logan. I don’t. I’m telling you because you have the right to know you have a child, but I don’t expect you to cancel your wedding or be a part of this child’s life in any way.”

 

“You don’t want me in its life?” he asked. He was going to be a father, he wasn’t sure how he felt about having a child running around out there and not being in their life. Growing up in boarding schools with barely there parents make you give more thought than most do about what being a parent actually means. “You want to do this alone?” 

 

“I didn’t say that,” she insisted. “I just don’t want to force anything on you. “I don’t want to force you into giving up the life you’re building with Odette because we screwed up. So if you want to get married and pretend this never happened, I’m okay with that. If you want to help support this child, I’m good with that. If you want to actually come to the states and visit and be an active part of their life I’m good with that. I want you to do what you want to do.”

 

“What if I want to get married?” Logan asked, only half joking. Then clarified, “to you?” 

 

“Except that,” Rory answered immediately. “While I appreciate the thought we can’t get married just because there’s a baby, it’s not good for us, or the baby, in the long run.” 

 

Logan loved her. He always had. He didn’t want to marry her because there was a baby on the way. He’d wanted to marry her ten years ago and he wanted to marry her over two years ago when she’d laid out the rules for their little arrangement when she was in London. He followed her rules because it was what she wanted and having her part time in his life was better than not at all. But, for now he’d go along with what she was saying, no marriage, because pregnancy wasn’t a reason to get married. This did give him a renewed reason to pursue her harder though. To not give up and accept her ridiculous rules. 

 

“All right, no getting married, but I do want to be there,” Logan answered. He was on his feet now, pacing the floor of his penthouse. His brain was working overtime and he tried to work out how he could be part of this child’s life, get Rory to marry him, and run his London-based company. “I want to be part of this child’s life. A real part.”

 

“Okay, when they’re old enough we can certainly find a way to fly to London in the summers or…” Rory started, she saw no point in sending a baby back and forth or forcing everyone on a long flight to listen to her crying baby, but once they were old enough to actually handle it and know what was going on she definitely would make sure their child knew Logan.

 

“No.” Logan stopped her from continuing her years off plan. He wanted a much more immediate plan. “I’ll move back home.”

 

“What about Odette?”

 

“Yeah, pretty sure when I tell her another woman is pregnant with my child the wedding will be off anyway.”

“Your father?”

 

“Oh, he’ll disown me,” Logan said with absolute certainty. Still pacing the room, still trying to figure out what to do. ”I call off this wedding because you’re pregnant and I’m done.”

 

Rory dropped her head, this was why she wasn’t sure telling him was the best idea. The stakes were so much higher for Logan. He was ruining his life for her right now. He was giving up everything he knew because of this, she’d always been broke, she was now just broke with a baby. And she’d still have her family, and the town’s support. “Logan, don’t —“

 

“It’ll be fine, Rory,” he assured her. “I have my trust fund, and investments made with that, he can’t touch those. I have my company. It’s small, compared to my family’s company, but it makes enough to support me, you, and a baby.”

 

“You don’t have to support me,” Rory pointed out. “We aren’t getting married.”

 

“Right, sorry.” Logan agreed. “It’s profitable enough to support me and help you support a child. Especially once I get back home.”

 

“You’re based in London.”

 

“Companies can be relocated,” Logan said, a plan finally starting to come together, but he wasn’t going to share it all yet. He did pull out his laptop and start looking for real estate agents near Stars Hollow though. “And until it’s fully relocated I can teleconference most of the time and just fly out when necessary for in person meetings.”

 

“Just don’t do anything rash,” Rory insisted. 

 

“Of course not, Logan said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rory hasn't heard from Logan since that day, but it's not stopping her from coming up with a plan to do both what she loves and raising her baby. Only problem is she needs the Town Council, or specifically Taylor's, cooperation.

It had been two weeks since she told Lorelei, Luke, and Logan. It had been just short of two weeks since she told her grandmother, Layne, Sookie, Miss Patty, and Babette. Of course, telling the last two meant it’s been about the same amount of time since all of Stars Hollow found out. Rory may have preferred keeping the secret a little longer but she also knew keeping any secret, especially one this big, was nearly impossible. In the third grade she’d called a girl that was bullying her a troglodyte and the school called Lorelei, who swore she’d told no one, but somehow the entire town knew about her little excursion into bullying before she got out of school at the end of the day. It’s just better to face it head on with honesty in this town. Because once she owned it and explained why she’d done it she mostly got support from everyone, and a lot of praise for knowing a word like troglodyte at her age. 

 

She was thirty-two now and nothing had changed in that regard. She screwed up but she was honest with everyone and for the most part everyone was supportive and eager to help any way they could. Even her grandmother was supportive. Not happy, of course, but supportive. They talked a lot about Logan and his offer to marry her, but as proof of how far Emily Gilmore had come over the last thirty or so years she agreed with Rory that marriage just because of the baby was a bad plan. She did agree with Lorelei though that if he really wanted to move back and be part of the baby’s life she should encourage it. Emily was more than happy to help support Rory financially if necessary until her book sold or she found a job, that wasn’t a problem, but children needed their parents, both of them. She shouldn’t keep this child from its father. 

 

It was possible that wouldn’t matter though. She hadn’t heard from Logan since that one phone conversation. She knew from society columns that he did cancel the wedding, but she didn’t know if that meant he was going to come home, or if he’d stay in London. Did he still want to be part of the baby’s life? Hers? Did he decide she’d completely ruined his life and was just cutting ties? She really didn’t know but she wasn’t going to call again, he had her number when he decided what he wanted to do. For now she needed to figure out what she was going to do. 

 

What was she going to do? Not about the baby, she’d made that decision. She was having it and keeping it. What was she going to do about life? How was she going to support herself and a baby? She’d sent her book proposal to her agent weeks ago and he’d forwarded it to several publishers but they were still waiting on responses but he had a good feeling about it and encouraged her to keep writing it. And she would, but it could be months or even years before it made her any real money, if it did at all, depending on how the sale went, would if she got an advance, and if the book sold well in the long run. She needed something that would bring in more immediate money. 

The Gazette was still there. It published monthly but it didn’t pay. She loved being an editor though. She loved writing for Stars Hollow. For the first newspaper she’d ever read. Because it wasn’t a daily it also would be a great job after the baby was born, it wouldn’t require her to be there on a daily basis. Or at least full time every day. Maybe she could talk Taylor into a salary if she was willing to up the quality of the paper, maybe even work on making it weekly, instead of monthly. She’d have to talk to him, first thing tomorrow. 

 

*****

“Rory!” Lorelei yelled as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “Your meeting is in an hour.” 

Rory opened the bedroom door and stepped out, wearing her most professional looking skirt and blouse and carrying two proposals, in separate folders under her arm. “God, I miss coffee,” she sighed as she sat at the table across from her mother and looked longingly at the mug Lorelei was cradling. “And really? An hour? You’re shouting at me about an hour to go? I’m going to meet the town council of Stars Hollow. It’s five minutes away. Everything in Stars Hollow is five minutes away.” She started to reach for her mother’s coffee and Lorelei pulled her mug further away as Luke stuck a glass of juice in Rory’s hand and a plate of pancakes and bacon on the table in front of her. Rory took a sip of the juice and smiled. “Fresh squeezed?” 

 

“Yep,” Luke answered already at the sink cleaning up the dirty pots and pans. “And banana pancakes with strawberries on top.”

“Best stepfather ever!” She said happily eating her breakfast. 

 

“Hey, why two proposals?” Lorelei asked realizing there were two folders next to Rory.

 

“For me to know and you to find out.” Rory said, reaching for the folders to move them out of her mom’s reach when they were grabbed away from both women. 

 

“Hey!” Lorelei yelled. “You are supposed to be on my side!” 

 

“Then I wouldn’t be the best step father ever,” Luke said setting the folders on the counter next to the stove where he was putting away the now clean pans he’d used for breakfast. “And she said it was none of your business.”

 

“And you aren’t even a little curious?” 

 

“Nope.” Truthfully, Luke wasn’t curious because he knew about the second proposal, Rory had come to the diner the night before to meet with Jess, who had helped her draft her proposal for the town council and then a second proposal to use if they turned down the first one. She’d asked his opinion on both. To make sure they made sense from a business, a Stars Hollow, and a pleasing Taylor point of view. Both were good proposals but would require her to work with people who may not be easy to work with. Well one definitely would give her grief. The other may or may not. He wouldn’t want to work with either but her relationships to people were very different than his. They talked and she was sure she could handle either plan, and he agreed to help with Lorelei if she had to go with plan B, and assuming, of course, Taylor approved it. 

 

“Fine you’re both traitors,” Lorelei pouted. “I’m going to work.”

“I’m leaving to,” Rory said getting up and setting her dishes in the sink. “I’ll call you as soon as I know anything. You too, Luke.” 

 

“Stop by the diner and I’ll make you lunch while you tell me,” Luke offered.

 

“You are just trying to make sure I eat healthy, aren’t you?” 

 

“Yep.” 

 

******

 

Rory sat quietly in her seat and waited patiently while Taylor, not surprisingly went through every piece of town business, no matter how mundane, before he finally got to her name. 

 

“Rory Gilmore?” Taylor read off the paper in front of him. “Who put Miss Gilmore on the schedule? She’s not a business owner, what business could she have to discuss that couldn’t wait until tonight’s town meeting?”

 

“I put her on schedule,” Patty said. 

 

“And I seconded it,” Harry chimed it. 

 

“She called me last night and asked to be added to today’s meeting to present a proposal about the Gazette, so I checked with Harry,” Patty continued.

 

“And I agreed that unpaid or not it’s a business and can be addressed at a council meeting so we added the girl,” Harry finished. “Now let the girl speak.”

 

“Fine,” Taylor huffed, hating to be overruled. “This better be good, young lady.” 

 

Rory got up and took a deep breath. Fortunately having lived here all her life she was well past the point that Taylor could intimidate her and she had Miss Patty on her side which always helped—Harry too, apparently. She smoothed her skirt and stepped forward to address the council.

 

“Thank you for agreeing to see me today,” she started, deciding against being petty and singling out those who actually were willing and the one who was complaining about it. She passed out copies of her first proposal to each of the five members of the council as she spoke. “I’m here today because I’d like to present a proposal about the Stars Hollow Gazette. The proposal is pretty straight forward. But I will go over the bullet points and then allow you to read it and ask me any questions you may have. First and most importantly, my goal is to make the paper more profitable than it currently is by making it weekly instead of monthly. Second is we need to run advertisements, most papers rely heavily on ad space to turn a profit. Third, again toward profitability, a wanted/classifieds section. Fourth, Not that I don’t love Esther and Charlie because I do, we need reporters and a paid staff. Better work comes from people who are making money from their work. I know right now we can’t afford a full time paid staff, but maybe myself as a full time editor and pay Charlie and Esther something for the work they do, and pay on a case by case basis for articles we use. I know some people who have good writing skills who would submit articles and it would encourage others in town to submit articles as well.” Rory stopped speaking for a moment to let everything sink in for everyone and when no one moved, she added, “That’s a general outline of my plan, I can give you a minute to read it if you’d like and then answer any questions you have.”

 

“Give us a minute, Honey,” Miss Patty said and at Rory’s nod, they all grabbed their copies and turned and started flipping pages and whispering angrily. From what she could hear the main opponent to her plan was Taylor. He didn’t want to pay anyone. Harry was leery but Patty and Jackson were winning him over. 

 

Finally they all turned around and Jackson called her back over to the table “We do have a few questions for you, Rory,” he said. “My question is about paying on a case by case basis for articles. How would that work?” 

 

“Oh, okay, the way that usually works for papers and magazines that do that is they’ll have a list of subjects they want articles on, or they’ll just take any subject that’s submitted, as long as it fits their paper, word count and formatting requirements, and is generally well written. I’d suggest we do a combination of both, allow people to submit anything that they find to be an article-worthy topic with specific formatting and word count requirements, as well as have a specific list of article subjects we want. I assume you also want to know about how to determine pay?” Jackson and Harry nodded. “Usually it’s done by word count. And by experience with the paper in question. So we’d start with a base rate for everyone, and keep records of who wrote what articles and the more useable articles they write, the higher their pay rate will be. I haven’t worked out the numbers yet, but it won’t take me long to do that if you accept the proposal.” 

 

“So,” Jackson asked, “If I wanted to write an article every, we’ll say, month about fruit and vegetable harvests, I could do that and submit it to the paper to be printed and you’d pay me whatever this base pay would be for say 1000 words?” 

 

“Exactly!” Rory said smiling, “And excellent story idea as well. Something on what’s in season, and what crops are doing the best would be a great section for the paper.” Jackson was interested enough to be considering submitting articles, that was definitely a good sign. 

 

“And someone else could take it upon themselves to start submitting movie or play reviews?” Patty asked. 

 

“Absolutely!” And she had Miss Patty.

 

“I have a question,” Harry said suddenly. “What would we have to charge to cover all of this?”

 

“Well,” Rory said considering this question. She’d actually been considering it all night. “I would like to say the same quarter you’ve been charging my entire life. And hopefully that will be the case, it definitely will be for the first couple months. If we sell enough ad space and continue to sell papers as we’ve always done that will work. At most I’d say we’d have to raise price a dime, maybe a quarter. Which is still no more than most papers today, less than many.”

 

“All this so you can be paid for a job others have done for free?” Taylor chimed in. 

 

“All this so I can make this paper what it should be, which I can’t do if I have to find a different job to support the child that I will have in a few months.” Rory said, “You get paid for what you do for this town. Why shouldn’t I?” 

 

“Give us a minute, Dear,” Miss Patty said stepping in before Taylor could respond. Once again they all gathered around Taylor and everyone seemed to be yelling at Taylor who didn’t seem to be listening, which meant that she wasn’t getting a yes. She waited a few more minutes and they all seemed to be losing their drive to argue with him. 

 

“Excuse me,” Rory said quietly, then repeated louder until she got their attention. When everyone turned back to her. “Taylor doesn’t want to spend the money so I’m unlikely to get this, right?”

 

“Well now, we don’t always…” Harry argued. 

 

“We all do it, Harry,” Rory said, “I’m not blaming you. I just want to make a new proposal. Maybe he’ll be happier with this one. Now please keep in mind this isn’t guaranteed yet, I have to talk to my investor tonight to make sure it’s feasible. I just didn’t want to do that until I was sure it was necessary.” 

“What is this?” Taylor asked flipping through the proposal. “It looks exactly the same.” 

 

“Well the business plan itself is, that part is mostly for my investor,” Rory explained. “The part for you is at the end. I want to buy the Stars Hollow Gazette from the town.”

 

“You want to what?” Taylor practically shouted at her. “It’s a town tradition!” 

 

“One that you were willing to shut down a year ago,” Jackson pointed out. Patty nodded in agreement. 

 

“You’ll notice on the second from last page I have a breakdown of how many papers are sold, the cost of running it, the cost of purchasing the building from the city, and the profit the paper makes. You’ll notice my offer covers the building and twice one year’s profit.”

 

“Rory, can you step out for a minute while we discuss this. It might get louder than whispers this time.” Miss Patty said. 

 

“Sure, I need to make a phone call anyway.”

 

When Rory got outside she immediately dialed her grandmother’s number. “Hi, Grandma.”

 

“Rory, what a nice surprise!”

 

“I need to talk to you about a business proposition. Is there any chance I can drive out this weekend? Or meet you halfway or something? I can email you the proposal first of course so you can see it.”

 

“I’m always willing to meet with you,” Emily said immediately, but I’m in Hartford today visiting a sick friend, do you want to meet for lunch?”

 

“Sure, that’d be great!”

 

Emily gave her the name of a restaurant they confirmed a time and hung up just as Miss Patty came to the door to call her back in. 

 

Rory came back in right behind Miss Patty and took her place in front of the long table and waited for their decision. 

 

“It seems you were wrong about me always getting my way, young lady,” Taylor said, clearly pouting over the fact that he in fact was overruled. “We are unwilling to make the changes you want at the paper but we are, it seems willing to sell it to you to make those changes. At the price you quoted here.”

“Thank you so much!” 

 

“Keep in mind if you fail we may not be willing to buy it back though.” Taylor told her. Rory could almost here his desire for her to fail. 

 

“Do you know how long it will be before you can talk to your investor?” Harry asked.

 

“I’m meeting her for lunch in Hartford,” Rory offered smiling. “I should have an answer for you tonight, or tomorrow. 

 

“Wonderful, call one of us when you have the money and paperwork and we will convene a meeting to take care of the paperwork,” Harry said as everyone began gathering their belongings and talking among themselves.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan makes an important move and Rory offers Emily a business deal.

“This wasn’t a reason to cancel your wedding!” Mitchum Huntzberger whispered loudly. Logan had no doubt he’d have yelled it had they not been in the middle of the dining room at the club. He may be reckless occasionally but he isn’t stupid and the choice to meet his father at such a high profile place for lunch, where so many people his father did business with were, was not an accident. 

 

“Odette and I agreed that if I was having a baby with another woman our relationship was not what it should be to create a healthy marriage,” Logan said calmly. Neither of us should be stuck in a miserable marriage. 

 

“Something you should've thought about before getting involved with Rory Gilmore, yet again,” Mitchum argued. “What were you thinking? And why did you even tell Odette? You said the girl told you that you didn’t need to be part of this child’s life. She didn’t expect it. She didn’t even expect child support. You could’ve walked away.” 

 

“Because I’m as responsible for this pregnancy as she is,” Logan argued, setting his fork down. He’d really lost his appetite. Not that anything being said wasn’t completely expected from his father. “I also want to be in my child’s life. And I love Rory, I always have, you know that.” 

 

“I’m not going to stand for this,” Mitchum said finally, realizing there was no point in arguing further. “If you choose to do this, you do it alone. I will cut you off.”

 

“As I expected,” Logan agreed shrugging. “I have my own money, from my trust fund and my business and I will make it work for us with that.” 

Logan got up and walked out of the dining room and left his father at the table. He wasn’t even as angry as he’d expected to be. Part of him had hoped things would go differently but deep down he knew they wouldn’t. It’s why he’d waited to tell his father, or anyone in his family, until he’d taken care of a few things, like securing his money in an account no one had access too, removing his private portfolio from the brokerage firm his family uses, and began the process of moving out of the London Penthouse the Huntzberger Family owns. For now he was back in Hartford, sleeping on Colin’s couch while he looks for a place of his own as well as a way to relocate his business to Hartford in the least intrusive to his business way possible. 

 

******

 

“So Rory, what is this business proposal you wanted to discuss?” Emily asked as she set down her fork having finished her first course. “I didn’t know you were interested in starting a business.” 

 

“I don’t want to start one from the ground up or anything, Grandma,” Rory explained, sipping her water. “with a baby on the way I obviously don’t have time for that, but I do need to support this baby.” 

 

“I told you I”m happy to help you with—“

 

“I know you are, and I appreciate that,” Rory interrupted. “Mom will help too, and Logan says he’s going to,” Rory admitted. “Everyone is willing to help. But I’m a 32 year old woman, who will soon have a child. I can’t just sit back and let everyone else take care of us. I have to do something.”

 

Emily nodded. While she honestly was willing to support her granddaughter and great grandchild if necessary she had been more than a little concerned about Rory for some time. She had that great run on Obama’s press circuit right out of college and a few impressive free lance articles but she’d mostly been drifting for years with no real purpose or direction. So if this child was helping Rory to focus and settle into a career with true purpose she couldn’t be happier to help however necessary.

“You know I’ve been working as an editor at the Stars Hollow Gazette, right? We’ve talked about that?” 

 

“Yes,” Emily agreed. She had thought it was good for Rory to get some experience but since it didn’t pay she’d hoped she’d get bored with it quickly and move on. “It’s a volunteer position though, correct?” 

 

“Yeah,” Rory sighed. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you about it. I met with Stars Hollow Town Council today about making the paper more profitable so that I could be paid.” Rory pulled out the folder with her proposal and handed it to her grandmother. “The first part of this outlines the proposal to make the paper more profitable. Making the paper weekly, selling ad space, paying a staff, possibly raising the price of the paper slightly. As well as a few things we’d need, like a computer system that isn’t from before I was born. The details are in there. This would obviously include paying me as an editor. I proposed this to the Council. They turned me down on the town doing this. The second part of what you have was my second proposal which includes the first part put with the added proposal of buying the paper from the city. The building and all. They are agreeable to that. At the price on the last page, the breakdown of how I arrived at the price is there as well.” 

 

“That’s where I come in?” Emily asked, leafing through the proposal in front of her. It all looked very professionally put together. Rory had drawn it up as a legitimate business proposal not as a granddaughter asking her grandmother for money. She did admire that, it showed she was taking it seriously. She pointed to the amount on the last page, “This is how much you’d need?” 

 

“For the town yes,” Rory said, stopping when the server arrived with their main course. when she the server left she continued. “I do have a list of some other things I’d like that aren’t there because Taylor doesn’t need to know what I’ll be buying if the city isn’t paying for it. “As I said we really need new computers, and some business and editing software. I’d also really like to get a website together for the paper as well that might cost a little. I have a friend that can do it at a huge discount for me. I have that list as well.” Rory pulled another paper from her bag and handed it to her grandmother. 

 

Emily read it over and smiled. “Okay, but I want to do this as a real investment.”

 

Rory’s eyes narrowed. She was raised to be suspicious of her grandmother always but at the same time she really needed this. “What do you mean?” 

 

“You’re asking for a lot of money,” Emily explained and Rory nodded. “I’m happy to help you, invest in your future. But I’m not just giving you this money. And no, I’m not going to bribe dinners or visits from you, I hope we are beyond that.” Again Rory nodded, they were indeed beyond that. She absolutely wanted her grandmother in her life. “I want this to be a real business investment. We will be business partners. Don’t worry, I have no intention of helping you run a newspaper. I know nothing about running a paper, nor do I want to learn. And I have no desire to move to Stars Hollow to be an active part of any business there. But if I’m going to invest I want to get my investment back. Shall we say we are 70/30 partners in your favor? Just until I get my money back then I’ll sign complete ownership over to you?”

 

“Really?” Rory asked, eyes wide. When her grandmother said partners she hadn’t known what to expect but she’d been expecting so much worse. “Just a silent partnership?” 

 

“Yes,” Emily agreed. “I’ll have papers drawn up with the terms. I’ll front you the money you’re asking here, plus say 20% so you have a cushion for unforeseen expenses, We will have to agree on your salary. You own 70% of the business and run it on your own. I as an investor own 30% and will be paid quarterly from the profits. Once I have been paid back my initial investment I will sign the company back over to you. You won’t have to pay any interest. Just return the initial investment.”

 

“That’s perfect!” Rory beamed. “Thank you so much for trusting me.” 

 

“If you’d like I can call my lawyer and see if we can see him today and get this taken care of now?” Emily suggested. “Oh and one other condition” 

 

“What?” Rory asked, smile faltering slightly. 

 

“I do have to get a copy of this paper every week.” 

 

Rory got up and hugged her grandmother tightly. “Of course, you can be our first subscriber.” 

 

******

 

“You decided the best way to get a job was to go into business with your grandmother? With Emily Gilmore?” Lorelei asked staring at her daughter in both shock and a little bit of anger. Then turned the same look to Luke. “And you encouraged this idea?” 

 

“I knew about it, yes,” he agreed calmly as he walked into the room. “I don’t know if I’d say encouraged.”

 

“Definitely not encouraged,” Rory agreed. “Knew about it, you didn’t tell me I was crazy, or tie me up to stop me or anything. You made sure the proposal was sound as a business plan and that Taylor would grudgingly accept it. But it wasn’t like you were a cheerleader for the ask Emily for money plan.”

 

“But you did it anyway?” Lorelei asked again. “And now you’re partners with her?”

 

“She’s four hours away, mom,” Rory reasoned. “She doesn’t want to run the paper. Giving me and the Town of Stars Hollow checks is all she wants. Well, that and for me to pay her back. Which I’ll do. I just need to make the paper profitable. I just need to sell ad space, which I know I can sell two ads easy right?” 

 

“Yeah who?” Luke asked only half paying attention to them as he watched whatever cooking show was on TV at the moment. 

 

“Oh well, I was thinking Luke’s Diner and the DragonFly Inn might be easy sells,” Rory teased. “If I fail Taylor wins after all and you don’t want that to happen.” 

 

“Fine, I’ll buy an ad.” 

 

“Fine, if this backfires, it’s on you,” Lorelei argued. 

 

“I know.” Rory said, getting up. “I’m turning in now because I have to make a few phone calls and I want to go to bed early since I have to meet with Taylor again tomorrow.” 

 

“Good Night,” Luke and Lorelei both said as Rory made her way back into her bedroom and shut the door. 

 

Rory sat on her bed and quickly dialed the phone. “Hey, so you still up to helping me get that website going and write a few articles? If you're willing to move back here I may be able to make a full time writer space on the paper?” 

 

“You sure?” 

 

“Well, I know you can write.”

 

“Not like your fancy Yale friends.”

 

“No, better than some of them,” Rory argued, “And you know Stars Hollow. So what do you think?” 

 

“You got the deal?” 

 

“Proposal two,” she said, “Which is why I can hire you. Taylor would never let me give you a job. Consider at least coming back and helping me get it up and running?”

 

“Your boyfriend has more experience.” 

 

“Don’t have a boyfriend, and I haven’t heard from him in weeks, I told you that.” 

 

“Call me when you own the place and I’ll come back at least for a while.”

 

Rory smiled when the line went dead. At least she’d have help for a while, maybe she’d get him to stay longer. She could really use a friend to help get this whole thing going.


End file.
